Happy Holidays
by Lyra Kamiya
Summary: *My award-winning Holiday fic!* Rika has changed a lot in resent weeks, but will it all come crashing down when Jeri's Christmas party isn't going to well for her? :Jenki fluff with random Jurato later....:
1. Default Chapter

Hi, people! (--- I'm politically correct!) This Christmas fic is awful early, I know, but it *is* a multi-part, and I needed to get it done to enter into Teenager Kari's Jenki contest (yes, I did finally find out the proper name for the couple) so I could go back to my other one. Which, I am betting, will be released next year instead, even though I started it in May, with Reflection Reflected ending up as this year's one, but oh well. Please, tell me what you think! Oh, and thought I'd warn you that there are spoilers in here!

****

Happy Holidays

By Lyra of The Edge

Henry sat on the snow covered hill in the park, staring at the invitation in his hand as he waited for the other Tamers to arrive. Why would Jeri be inviting him to her Christmas party? He guessed it was because he was one of the other Tamers, but just the same, he was hoping she hadn't invited his little sister. Tamer or not, Suzy would *not* fit in amongst himself and the other 13 year olds, nor would the majority of the Digimon put up with her for more than half an hour. He sighed, then looked up as he heard the crunch of snow alerting him of someone's approach. Kazu and Kenta were trudging up the hill in his direction.

"Hey, where's Terriermon?" Kazu asked immediately.

"He's at home, with his brother and Suzy," Henry grinned. "She agreed to keep dress-up to a minimum, if they'd help her wrap presents."

"Lucky. Gaurdromon can't fit inside the house, so we hid him in the tunnel so he won't rust."

"Marineangemon was afraid she'd freeze, so she's at home," Kenta added quickly.

"Makes sense. Then I'm guessing only Giulmon and Calumon will be around today…"

"What makes you say that?"

"Behind you," Henry laughed as the two non (ok, in Jeri's case less) annoying female Tamers and Takato came wandering up the steps, their Digimon nowhere in sight, managing to panic Kenta half to death.

"Renamon has a cold, and Leomon went back to the Digital World for a little while with Ryo and CyberDramon, [A/N: I fixed it! But now I probably spelled the name wrong… but be happy with what I *can* do right!]" they quickly explained, joining the others inside the much larger than before shed that served as Giulmon and Calumon's home.

"So that's why only these two were here…"

"But, Rika, if Renamon has a cold, shouldn't you be at home with her?"

"Ah, she'll be fine for an hour without me. Grandma is watching her, and Digimon heal relatively quickly," Rika smiled softly. "But, like said, I'm gonna go home a bit earlier to check on her."

"Oh, does that mean we have to cut _another_ snowball fight short?" Takato and Giulmon whined.

"Not likely. The forts are still there from two weeks ago, just fairly buried by now," Calumon giggled. "I've been keeping them dug out, and the snow last night was *really* deep but light, so it shouldn't take too long for the place to be ready again."

"Yeah, you tried to dig them out this morning, and I had to dig *you* out," Giulmon added, sending them all into laugh riots. There was soon an argument between Takato and Kazu, the two self-proclaimed team captains, over who would get Rika and who got Giulmon, both of whom were almost tied for strongest thrower. Finally Rika convinced them to just let her and Giulmon be the Captains, which nobody was about to disagree with.

"Alright, that's settled. Giulmon can pick first," Rika glanced over at the dino.

"Me?" he asked in his normal, squeaky voice. "Ok, I want Takato on my team," he pointed to his Tamer.

"Right, then I'll take… Henry," Rika stopped scanning the crowd, pointing straight at him.

"Me? But, I'm normally about the last to be picked…"

"Unrightfully so. I think you and Giulmon are the only one's who've actually hit me with a snowball before. Now get over here!"

"Ok, ok, I'm coming!"

**********

Teams divided, the two groups headed towards their own forts. It was amazing how they could simply forget the rest of the world and act like normal kids, as if the last year had never happened. Nothing had really been happening throughout the last month or so, so the group had decided to go back to acting as normal as possible. The snow throughout the last few weeks had really lightened all of their moods, since they'd already had 4 snow days in the last three weeks, and at the current rate of nightly snowfall, the next day was destined to be yet another one. Luckily, the events of the past few months, resulting in the last remaining three Tamers' acquiring of their Digimon, had left much less tension within the group, with the end of the 'why do you get a Digimon and I don't?!' discussions. All of this was what Henry was pondering as he sat, back against the fort wall, packing snow for the others to use. He had been distracted earlier and hit twice, at which point Kenta had suggested he do such until his mind was clear. A small snowball hitting him on the shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Calumon?! You're supposed to be throwing snowballs at the *other* team, not us!" he scolded the perpetrator. [A/N: ok, I've officially spent too much time with *my* vocab book…]

"But you ARE the other team!" he laughed, throwing another small snowball and scurrying off, Jeri fast behind, and right into the other teams trap regrettably for her. Out from the shelter of the small snow wall, she was easily susceptible to the previous random snowballs. All of which, of course, were aimed at her now. This, however, left none of the opposing team for guards, as Rika quickly alerted Henry and the two began chucking missiles at the other boys' fort, resulting in random cries of 'ow!' and 'hey!' from two guys and one dino Digimon hidden behind the wall.

"Our most successful attack this hour," Kenta laughed, throwing one more snowball across the field before returning to forming snowballs for the more experienced ones to throw.

"Hour?! Oh no, I gotta get back home to Renamon," Rika panicked.

"I'm really proud of you. A few months ago, you wouldn't have cared if Renamon was nearly dead, let alone if she had a little cold," Henry commented randomly.

"Thanks."

"Hey, guys!! Hold your fire, Rika's got to leave!" Kenta yelled, standing up. Naturally, he was pelted by about a dozen snowballs before the others headed his request.

"Why don't we all call it a day?" Kazu suggested, as everyone else came out of hiding. "I mean, we've got 3 people and 2 Digimon covered in snow," he motioned to Takato, Jeri, and Kenta, as well as the two Digimon present, "And I sorta promised my parents I'd help them decorate for Christmas."

"Ok," the rest of them agreed, retrieving whatever items they'd brought with them.

"Hey, Takato, I was wondering, if… after you're done warming up, you wanted to come over… For hot chocolate and to help me decorate?" Jeri asked him shyly.

"Sure, why not?" Takato laughed. "But do you mind of those two come too?" he motioned to Giulmon and Calumon. "They still have no idea what Christmas is, so I think it'd be fun to have them around."

"Well… ok. As long as they're not *too* destructive. My parents are used to Leomon being around, but not any others yet."

"Wish I could say the same for my parents. Last time we had Giulmon in the house, he almost ate us out of house and business," they both laughed at the *really* pathetic joke Takato had made.

"Oye, Mr. and Mrs. Goggle-head, if you want my opinion," Rika sighed.

"Yeah. Hey, at least she's not obsessed with that puppet anymore…" Henry pointed out. "Look, um, I was going to do some Christmas shopping, since this is about the first time on record I've been free from Blabber-mon, and the store I wanted to go to is right by where you live, so do you mind if I walk with you?" he asked Rika, motioning in the general direction of her walk home.

"I guess so. But on one condition. You have to help me find something for Renamon. I just can *not* think of anything to get for her. I mean, last time I got her a gift, it was an energy drink. I think she'd appreciate something better than that this time."

"Of course," Henry agreed, as they walked off down the steps. Which left Kazu and Kenta glancing around, confused, between their other two best friends, and the girls they were walking with. Apparently couples in their eyes, though they doubted either of the sets thought so themselves.

"Oh, great. So they already snagged the good girls, and left us with the only female Tamer left being Suzy," Kazu sighed.

"So? And why are they defined as the 'good ones'?"

"They're our age. Ah, c'mon, let's go."

**********

"So… exactly what were you thinking of getting Renamon?"

"I have no idea. I've never actually boughten a present for anyone within the last… 8 years? You know, any present I have to give to someone, mom or grandma picked out for me. What do you get, for a Fox-Digimon who has everything she needs?" Rika sighed.

"A gift certificate to Starbucks?" Henry said jokingly. He shrugged lightly, walking slightly behind Rika through the softly falling snow, past rows of shops.

"Not a bad idea…"

"Well, if you think so," Henry laughed. "It was a joke, actually…"

"Yeah, I know… but maybe I should get her a gift certificate, to Starbucks or maybe a book store…"

"She's into books?"

"Yeah, she's really traditional… Hey, this place looks nice… they sell old books, and candles and other traditional stuff too," Rika smiled faintly. It wasn't exactly something she did often, so Henry did a slight double take when he saw this, and watched her face carefully for a moment. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh… nothing, just something in the window past you…" he lied, putting his hand on the door knob and turning his head away, to hide the blush that was forming there. "Why don't we go look around? They might have something I could get for my mother in here, she loves traditional paintings.

"Alright, then…" she wandered through the door and into the shop, as Henry had opened the door for her. She couldn't really recall anyone having done so before… She was so tough, people liked to step out of her way and let her do things herself. But Henry was so much different, he didn't judge her by how she looked. Even before he really knew her, he'd already been different towards her, kinder, and more polite.

She smiled back at him, only to see his eyes focused in what seemed like midair to her. "Hey, you gonna just stand there all day, or you coming in? Geesh, you've obviously been out in the cold too long, your cheeks are red," she huffed, shaking her head and wandering further into the store. She listened with quite some amusement as Henry re-became aware behind her. This was getting interesting…

^_____^ oddness… ok, sorry, just feeling a bit strange at present moment, I just got back from basketball practice, and from an argument with one of my friends over whether Hermione is with Harry, or Ron. Gawd, would you look at what I do with my free time? But help us out, vote which @ CCRya@aol.com. And review this, too! bai-bai!  
P.S. I FIXED IT, ALRIGHT?! Geesh… sorry… my friends just like to mislead me on these things, and specifically told me she was *not* his Tamer, so :P and I'm not trusting Skie again.


	2. 2

=_= --- was up too late um… tonight, actually, researching… but not anything for school. Something for an argument with a friend. "I will not rest, until Katie believes me that she's with Harry, not Ron!"  
…ok, so the truth's out. I was in the HP section. Which has too many slash stories. DEAL!  
…oh, and I still need a new title for this story…

**Happy Holidays**

Lyra of The Edge

The party was…. Going surprisingly well, actually. With everyone, save Terriermon and occasionally Takato, steering clear of the mistletoe (with the exception of Calumon's attempt to eat it), and Jeri being too absorbed in playing random Christmas songs to suggest many holiday games so far… Other than a marshmallow contest…. (chubby bunnies – Terriermon and Lopmon had stopped them, however, after they had decided to take it personally) Things were actually going fairly smoothly.

Except that, it seemed, Kazu had brought a CD that Jeri approved of, all 17 songs, and in the order they were in. meaning she'd be free to attend to other matters for the next hour. She disappeared momentarily, and, upon her return, accompanied by an empty soda bottle and a checkerboard, the majority of the guests had vanished from sight. Most the Digimon remained, looking quite confused, and Takato stood, too spaced out and caffinated, to notice.

"Looks like it's just you and me then, unless any of the Digimon want to play…" she grinned, grabbing Takato's arm and dragging the half-aware goggle-head down the hall, narrowly avoiding some of the others' hiding spots. "Hey, I know you guys are in there somewhere… come out and I'll call the other girls…"

"Even Kim?" Kazu demanded, peeking out from behind the sofa.

"Sure…" instantly the room was flooded with the remaining guys, except Henry, and Ryo gladly handed Jeri the phone to call her friends over with. Rika stood in the corner of the next room, watching the seen with disgust.

"What would you do if you had a guy that obsessed with you?" Henry asked her jokingly, motioning towards Takato, who was obviously by now only faking his caffeine intoxication.

"Probably kick him…" she snarled, rolling her eyes at the mere thought.

"What if you had a girl that obsessed?"

"That… is not right…" Rika shuddered, wondering how such a comment had come from Henry of all people. One of the other guys, maybe, but not him. He was too traditional to even think about things like that, at least she thought. "Ugh, look at that. Terriermon is teaching the other Digimon how to play…"

"I think he's been around girls too long. Even if it *was* Suzy, involuntarily… at least now she'll have a group to play with, we certainly don't need her joining the older kids…" he paused, watching Rika's eyes slowly scan the room. "What?"

"Oh, great. She's purposely doing this, I'll bet. Marren'll bring her little brother, and that'll leave an equal number of guys and girls…" she shook her head sadly. "She's determined to set all the others up ASAP so she can have Takato to herself."

"And if you 'don't think like them', how do you know all this?" Henry intrigued.

"Goggle-head could figure this one out. And you already pointed out that he probably has…" she said, referring to the vacant expression on Takato's face.

"So why are you so upset? It's not like *you* were after him…" _I hope_…

"What?! No, idiot… I find people like all of them disgusting. I was concerned by the fact that they're going to try setting *me* up with someone too, and I get the feeling it's Ryo…" Henry froze as she spoke the words.

_Please, not with him… with me,,,_ he silently prayed, glancing nervously between Rika and Ryo, trying to make it appear as though he was scanning the Digimon and Suzy's game. "What makes you say that?" he asked quietly.

"A hunch, that I hope is wrong. We were both loners, both of us have powerful Digimon, and we're both experts in combat. I just-"

"Hey, you two!" Jeri grinned, yelling at Rika and Henry from the next room. "We'll play Seven minutes in heaven later! For now, get back in here, the girls are here!" they glanced at each other, blushing, thankful that the other one didn't really know what was in their brain and that none of the others could see them too clearly.

_That sure blows my theory of who they were gonna try and set me up with…_ Rika sighed, reluctantly walking back in and standing, sneering, over the game that was about to begin. "Do I have to play? I mean are any of you guys that pathetically determined to," she mad a face of disgust, "kiss me, that you'd use this game as an excuse, and fairly much risk having your face pummeled in after the party?" Most the males in the area shook their head no frantically. Kazu, on the other hand, made the dumb mistake of laughing at her.

"You think we would actually want to risk kissing you? We want to kiss girls," he shook his head and looked around between the guys that were already gathered there. They all nodded in agreement, Takato slowly, hoping not to be seen by Rika, since he was her regular target anyway. Henry was still standing back behind Rika, simply observing the whole scene.

"Well, then, if that's how you guys feel, then I'll just leave now. I'm bored of all this nonsense anyway… Renamon, you can stay if you want…"

"Rika, wait!" Jeri pleaded suddenly. "I'm trying really hard to make sure everyone likes my party, and I don't want anyone to leave early. How about this; we'll play this so that everyone spins once for now, and then we'll go have a snack and agree on a game that everyone can enjoy." The room turned into a deadly silence as everyone slowly agreed in their own minds with the plan, then looked to Rika for her answer. The other girls were still fairly confused on the whole thing, because they didn't really know Rika.

"If we have to…" she sighed. "But I don't see why I'd want to kiss any of them…"

"Um… oh, I know!" one of the other girls said suddenly. "You only have to kiss the person on the cheek, if you don't want to…" everyone nodded at the suggestion, by now just eager to get the whole conversation over with.

"I'm going last, then…" she snarled, and sat down by one corner of the board. Henry finally stopped surveying the scene and sat beside her, keeping with the boy-girl pattern that was supposed to exist. "I still don't see why we have to play…" she mumbled under her breath, her voice drowned out by the heavy metal music now playing in the background.

Thus the game began. Jeri, of course, went first, and was *quite* upset when it landed on Kenta… and thus it continued, with no one seeming to land on whoever they wanted to. Suddenly, the music in the background all but ceased and everyone looked up momentarilly.

'I'll never speak to you again!' came the only line in the song.

"Kazu… exactly what is on your CD…?"

"Oh, don't worry! That's the only song like that, and you'll note it was censored."

"Considering there's only one line left in the song, should we ask what was in there before?"

"Probably not…"

**********

The game had gone by fairly fast, and, thankfully enough to her, Rika had not been landed on even once. It had slowly occurred to her, however, that she would not be going last apparently, as Jeri had gone first and Henry sat between her and herself. She suddenly was brought back from concentrating on not running out the door, when she heard someone yelling at her that is was 'your turn, already!'. She calmly opened her eyes once more and looked around. "I told you, I'm going last, even if I'm not in last position. I'm trying to delay torture as long as possible…"

"We'll play charades or something next…" someone said quietly.

"Alright, then. Henry… your turn." The room grew silent yet again, other than Jingle Bell Rock in the background, as he spun… and landed on Rika. Everyone gasped (somewhat sarcastically) and looked at him, the apparently doomed to be murdered because of an unlucky spin. Rika sighed and placed her hand on her face, supporting it and closing her eyes as she apparently struggled not to complain. Somewhere, in what seemed like a different dimension to Rika because of how stressed she was, one of the other girls mumbled something about how they shouldn't have made a rule adjustment.

"Just get it over with…" Rika sighed.

"Um… Rika, we're waiting for you to spin now…" her face turned red as she realized what that meant. Henry had kissed her, and she hadn't even noticed. She mentally kicked herself, though she was unsure why. She'd have to figure it out later… for now, she wanted to get this game over with… she couldn't think of any point in her life she'd wanted a snack that much without being hungry.

She calmly reached over and spun, praying like heck that it landed on… no one, truth to tell. She sorta wanted it to land on Henry, but… then she'd be embarrassed, not something she liked to be… she opened her eyes as she heard the bottle come to a spot. It was pointing to her right… where Ryo sat… she turned, groaning to herself and saw…

Nothing. Ryo was not there. She looked down. "Hi, Rika!" Calumon grinned. "Ryo said he'll be right back, and wanted me to take his place until then."

"I'm not waiting for him to come back," she said quickly, then grinned, picked up the little Digimon, and kissed him on the cheek before looking at the rest of the group. "I'm starved. How about you people?"

Yahoo!!! We won! Our basketball team won!!! But that was yesterday… today, I have a cold. Great. But at least this means I might skip school tomorrow, which means I might actually catch up on my fanfics. ^_^ Review, please! Ja ne to heiwa, ai Lyra-chan!


	3. 3

… Rika Nonaka, and you know who you are, I am not very happy about the obvious similarities between your fic "Fallin"' and mine, "Reality?". You stole the tackling idea, I know it…. Gaw, the *one* time I don't copyright something… But, I will help you… Rika's parents are actually Aki (mom) and Kenji.  
On lighter notes, Miyako, I'm guessing you like the fic… here's the next chapter you requested 3 times. Everyone else, thanks for reviewing ^_^ my god, I've found a couple I can write for… other than my own chars…

Charades had been considerably more enjoyable than previous games. Rika set down the glass of cider she was sipping and sighed_. What a mess…_she glanced around. No sign of Takato or Jeri, not a good sign in her book. All others were present and accounted for, ranging from Kenta who had been knocked out by an apparent cider overdose earlier, to Kim who was giggling as Kazu and Ryo arm wrestled in front of her. "Guys…" she mumbled, then looked over at whoever was tapping her shoulder. "Yeah?" she asked Michelle defiantly.

"Oh, nothing… just seeing how much attention you were paying to your surroundings.

__

Gaw, they're probably going to harp on me forever for that stunt… Rika sighed, picking her glass back up.

"Rika?" she panicked and practically spit out her cider when she heard Henry call her name.

"Yeah?"

"Thought I'd warn you… the bunnies are up to no good…" he pointed upwards, and she slowly looked up. She heard a small 'uh-oh' and saw a brown ear disappear onto a rafter. Above her, not previously there, was a plastic mistletoe.

"Ground them for me, will yah?" she sighed, walking toward a different corner of the room. Moments later, a shadow flashed across her face. "Lopmon… try it again, and I'm gonna…" she realized it was too late as she finally looked up. She jumped, snatched the plastic 'plant-of-doom' from the ceiling, and, upon a sudden burst of boredom and anger, set it on Guilmon's head before storming out of the room.

"What's up with her?"

"Oh, you know Rika. She's always uptight about something…"

__

I'm uptight, huh? Rika huffed, standing alone in the hall. _Gaw, if it weren't for the sinking sensation that there are people in that closet…_ she paused her thoughts as something knocked on the door from the inside, _I'd stand out here all night. The party's not over until 10:00… so I'm stranded, I'm guessing…_ she looked at the clock on the wall. _For over another hour. Is that all the longer the torture took? That's it…_ "Yo, Renamon! Be back by dawn. The rest of you, I'll see you later," Rika rolled her eyes at the vacant stares she was receiving from the majority of the room and walked right out the front door.

"Leaving, but… it's only…" Henry reasoned, looking at the clock. Then at his sleeping sister, curled up on the sofa beside Marren's little brother. Adorable as she looked, he knew she was due home before nine, so he needed to take her home and then come back to the party. He was supposed to go to Takato's for the night, after the party, because it was less than halfway between his house and Jeri's, a much shorter distance to walk than that to his own. He sighed and picked Suzy up, calling quietly to Terriermon and Lopmon and explaining what he was doing, as well as that he'd be back within half an hour.

"Alright then…" they grinned, spinning back around and running off as Henry adjusted how he was holding his little sister and walked out the front door, in the direction of his house.

**********

"Hey, mom! Suzy's in bed, I'm headed back out!" Henry sighed, looking at the little brat, now curled up silently under her blanket. "And I'm still staying at Takato's after the party, right?"

"I suppose so… But this better not become a habit, of staying away from home on Christmas," his mom shook her head approvingly as he ran back out the door.

"I know, I know!" he called back, closing the door sharply behind him.

The cool air whipped around him as he wandered back towards Jeri's American style home. He passed more slowly past the dimly lit park, glancing at his watch. "Only 9:10… it's too bad Rika left so early…" he was barely aware of his path as he stared at the sky, the clouds parting momentarily, allowing a small amount of light from the full moon to seep through. "Beautiful…" he murmured, as he wandered, halfway daydreaming, across the park and through the light snow. He had, not even purposely, decided to take a short detour through the quiet landscape before returning to the Yuletide chaos of the party.

As he strode between the two forts on the field from their previous snowfights, he couldn't help but imagine the others there as well. Their many hours of fun together, between saving the world and homework… This was their last year in middle school; would they have time to hang out once their workload increased the next year? How likely was it that they would be headed towards the same high school? If not, would it cause them to drift apart, 8 lone warriors instead of one team? Where *were* they all headed…?

A soft humming brought him from his thoughts… He walked towards the source, one of the two snowforts. He leaned against the wall and looked over, at Rika, who was singing softly, with her back turned against the wall.

Then, predictably… the wall collapsed, leaving Henry and half the wall to tumble down beside Rika.

"What the?!" she yelled, turning too late to avoid the miniature avalanche. Henry had approximately the same reaction as he plummeted, face first, into the snow. "Henry?!"

"Sorry, sorry!" he panicked, struggling but failing to get back up.

"Are you ok?" they suddenly asked in unison.

"Y-you're not mad?" Henry questioned, forgetting to complete standing up.

"Provided you haven't been there for more than a minute…"

"Nope. Got here, looked over wall, fell," he laughed, grinning sheepishly and brushing snow off his vest.

"Oh… in that case," Rika sighed. Next thing Henry knew, however, he had been hit across the back of his head by something cold and wet.

"Hey!" he shouted playfully, tossing a handful of powder back at her. Within mere moments they were yelling and racing through the dimly lit park, exchanging random fire when oppurtunity permitted. Like children half their age, they dashed behind trees to avoid being hit by the other. Finally, a few minutes later, they both collapsed beneath a tree, side by side, laughing and gasping for air. They paused and looked at each other, only causing each to laugh harder as they saw the other covered in snow, until they finally both fell over backwards into the snow.

"That was so… unlike you," Henry sighed as he finally stopped laughing.

"I can't say it seemed identical to the average you, either Henry," Rika scoffed. They both sighed heavily.

"Why can't life always be like this…" they said, again at the same time. They both sat up instantly, amused with their synchronized thoughts. The moment was ruined as Henry's cell phone rang. They both groaned as Henry flipped the phone on and put it to his ear, shaking his head all the while.

"Yeah? Oh… um, hi Takato," he glanced at Rika nervously. "No, I didn't realize that… well, I'm…" he looked back at her helplessly.

"Make something up!" she hissed sharply. _What would *they* think if they knew I was sitting around the park with him?!_

"Oh, that was the TV, I'm at home still… Yeah, I'm still coming over later… I just have to babysit for now… no… I might not be over until after midnight, ok? So I'll see you later, then," he sighed heavily and clicked the phone back off.

"Why'd you do *that*?"

"The party's been extended another hour, it's only 9:50, and truth to tell, I don't much like the party games either…"

"What about the extra hour? What are you planning to do for about 2 hours?" she questioned, reminding him of the 'after midnight' statement.

"I don't really know… When do you need to be home?"

"Mom's out of town, so just before Grandma wakes up… anytime, anotherwards… Why? Hoping I'll be your strategist or something?" she demanded falsely, trying to hide her own hopes from even herself. Henry shook his head in response.

"Just follow me."

OMG OMG I thought I was gonna loose this fic 'cause my disk locked up! *hugs compu* thank god for Norton System Utilities! Ok, I'll add more (the last bit) soon… But I have a card tournament to win tomorrow, so for now, ja ne to heiwa! Review onegai, ai Lyra-chan!


	4. 4

You'll all have to forgive me… I am VERY over emotional at present moment (damn WB for screwing over CCS) so I started crying about the loss of my random Chinese guy ^_^'' all two and a half years ago that it was… (It suddenly occurs to her Henry is Chinese too…) whaaaaaaaa I want Alan to come back… He was my best friend, I *didn't* obsess over him, even when I was alone… I didn't even admit to *myself*, let alone anyone else, that I loved him until he'd left… I guess that's where I went wrong…  
Please, if ANYONE knows Alan Wang in Washington D.C., tell him that Katie is looking for him, and e-mail me his E-mail address… I have ways of knowing it's him, so any link to him is greatly appreciated and will merit the giver a piece of signed art from me ^_^ thankies!!! Oh, and thanks all you who've made this my second most successful story EVER. Keep up the reviews ^_^

Happy Holidays  
By Lyra Kamiya (let's just stick with that name…)

"Where are you taking me?!"

"We're going to see if we can find Kazu's sled… I know he hides it somewhere around here," Henry smiled, pushing his way into some bushes where the dim lights of the park couldn't reach.

"Henry? Where'd you go, it's impossible to see in here… Let's do something else, then come look for it," Rika suggested, wincing as a snow-covered branch hit her from out of the darkness.

"Oh, fine…" Henry mock-whined, wandering back out. Of course, what he didn't realize until he got out, was that Rika was still in the trees. "Hey, you alright in there?"

"No, I'm stuck on something. Thanks a lot, leading me off on random scavenger hunts…" she sighed, snarling as she struggled to reach and break whatever branch her coat was caught on. "Not good… cold, snow, in my jacket…" she continued to growl as more and more things went wrong throughout her struggle. Henry laughed under his breath and walked towards her voice. "Henry? Is that you? You know it's impossible to see in here, so you better not sneak up on me… I'll punch you, you know it…"

__

What's she so panicked about? That's *definitely* not like her… He said inwardly, stepping up in front of what he figured must be her. "Relax… I didn't sneak up on you, see? And I'm sorry I got you stuck…"

"How did *you* get me stuck?"

"It was my idea to lead you back here… now hold still, I'll see if I can get you out of here…" he wandered behind her, trying to work loose the coat from the branch it was stuck on…

"What's taking so long?" she complained, fidgeting impatiently.

"I can't figure out how it's stuck on here… I think it might of punctured the fabric… there's no way I'm going to be able to get it off of here, with you in it…"

"So I need to take off the jacket? No problem," Rika sighed, slipping her arms from the coat and turning back towards it. "Can you get it?"

"I hope so… we certainly don't need you freezing out here…" he replied, pulling the coat and limb in opposite directions, seemingly futilely.

"Here, let me help," she insisted, grabbing the snagged collar of her jacket, in the same exact spot that Henry had his hand. She pulled it back away instantly. "Eh, it's too dark in here…" she blushed, being actually thankful for the darkness at that moment. "We'll have to come back for it in the morning…" she sighed, about facing to walk out of the trees.

"Well, here then…" Henry walked after her, taking off his coat. "I know you won't take my jacket most likely, but if you want to, you can. But at least," he looked up at her as they re-entered the lit field of the park, "take my vest. It's not that much, but you can always tuck your arms inside it if they get cold." He held up his vest, this one identical in looks but not in weight of his standard one. Instead, it was actually a rather warm fleece vest.

"Thanks, I guess…" she held out her hand to take the vest, but Henry started instinctively putting it on her arm, and was around the back of her before he realized what he was doing.

"I'm not your little sister…" she pointed out severely, pulling her arm and the vest from him.

"You guessed it…" he grinned sheepishly, continuing to stand behind her, putting his own coat back on, until he felt the blush on his face wear off. It returned as soon as he walked back in front of her though, because she was smiling at him, the rarity of it all…

"Thanks anyway. Whatcha want to do now, oh master of bad plans?" she said sarcastically, tapping her foot on the snow as best as she could. A cool breeze hit them, and she tucked her arms into the vest, as to Henry's prior suggestion, sighing gently as she watched him think. _The vest is so warm since he's been wearing it… and it's so soft… it feels almost like it's actually him wrapped around me…_ the tint of her face slowly turned red, as she lost herself into one of her rare fantasies. She heard him say her name, in her mind… he was right there, holding her tight against the cold of the Christmas Eve night… Then she shook her head and brought herself back to reality as she realized he actually was trying to get her attention.

"Rika? You ok? Your face looks a little frost bitten."

"I'm fine. Hey… this is going to sound really weird but, you wanna build a snowman?" she dropped to her knees and started rolling up a ball of snow before she even had a response, willing to do most anything to change the subject right then.

"Well, I suppose…" he glanced around slowly. "Hey, you know the sledding hill over there?" he pointed towards the other side of the park. "I'll show you a trick my dad taught me!" he laughed, starting to run across the field. "Race you!"

"Hey, now THAT isn't fair! And I'm still going to beat you!" she yelled, standing up and running after him. They were once again racing across the park like young children, it seemed so… refreshing, how the holidays had a way of making *everyone* younger. Henry laughed as he slid to a stop and fell at the top of the hill, flopping backwards into the soft blanket of powder as Rika came to a stop right behind him. "I would have won if you hadn't gotten a head start…" she growled, but laughing in the process.

"I don't doubt it. First, help me up. Then I'll show you the cheaters snowman building method," he grinned evilly, putting his arms into the air.

"And if I throw you down the hill in the process of launching you up?" she blinked at him.

"We'll find out if the cartoon person-to-snowball is true or not," he shrugged, sitting up. "Just pull. I've been helping you all night, and head start or not, it was nearly impossible to beat you in a race, so I'm exhausted."

"Ok, fine then," she rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her in an attempt to help him up. What neither of them had counted on was the minor detail that he weighed more than her, as she quickly found out upon getting him halfway off the ground only to find herself plummeting back towards the ground with him.

"I guess it was your turn. Payback!" Henry laughed, pulling his arm out from beneath her and recalling his earlier snow-fort wall incident. "You're alright, ne?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Rika rolled over and sat up beside him, turning to say something but finding her face less than a foot from his. She turned back away quickly, packing a snowball nervously with her other hand.

"Can I… see that?" Henry asked, pointing to the snowball in the hand opposite him. "See, this is the secret to dad's technique. Take one reasonably sized snowball, one fresh powdery hill, and one good sized, golf ball-like rock. Put the rock in the side of the snowball, off center, pack the snowball until it's about the size of a softball, and roll it, like so." He gave it a gentle toss down the hill. The rock kept it rolling, keeping it's weight off balance, and it rolled down the long hill quadrupling in size, to be larger than a soccer ball.

"That's just weird," Rika sweatdropped. "It's like on the old American cartoons…But what about larger ones for the other two parts?"

"Start with ones like that, and roll them the traditional way," he said calmly, tossing another instant-snowman down the hill. "The hard part to all this is, getting *us* down the hill. We don't have Kazu's sled, and running down would be dangerous…"

"I only demanded to know where we were going earlier because his sled is over there," Rika sighed and pointed to a small outcropping of bushes beside the hill. Henry muttered something and tossed the last snowball down the hill before running to get it.

"I meant his *other* sled!" Henry complained, walking back over. He held up an innertube like sled, that they both knew to belong to Kazu. "The one actually meant for two or more people, not the tube…"

"It's this or our feet, and I think I'd rather ride doubles than humiliate myself by sliding down that hill on my ass…" Rika grimaced at the thought.

"Oh, that's a nice way to put it," he sighed. "You'd have to ride on my lap though…" Henry suddenly realized what he'd just said, and tried to look slightly upset with the thought, while his brain was screaming otherwise.

"Well, I guess…You've been treating me like the little kid all day, and I'm lighter anyway…" Rika turned and looked down the hill, praying her now-hot face would be in the shadows. "Just don't choke me or give me the Heimlich…"

"You don't fall off," Henry shot back, sitting down cross legged in the sledding tube. "Or squish me… you're lighter than me, but I'm not sure *how* many cookies you had at the party…"

"Three," she retorted, sitting down cautiously and putting her head to one side of Henry's, and well in front of it of course. She was leaning so far forward, in fact, that it was clear she would fall off forwards instantly once the tube started down the different angle of the hill.

"I won't bite you," Henry rolled his eyes, trying to remove any ulterior motives from his thoughts. "You're going to fall out, holding on or not, if you don't lean back and just momentie…"

"You seriously need to not pay so much attention to what your Digimon says," she responded, leaning back but still not against him. She was trying to minimize bodily contact…. She didn't like what her mind was trying to go off and think on its own. Henry grinned childishly, grabbing one of the handles behind Rika's hand and putting the other one into the snow to shove them over the edge of the hill…

"Launch!" he laughed, grinning again and blushing as he felt Rika involuntarily lean into him, as the momentum of the sled caused her to be pushed backwards. He closed his eyes as he felt her ponytail near his face… _Despite her attitude, she at least uses feminine shampoo scents…_ he smiled, laughing inwardly as he inhaled deeply, enjoying the mixed fruit scent of her hair. He gently leaned his head onto hers, wanting to see the ride from her perspective, but being too caught up in the moment to care. He knew they'd be at the bottom soon… He didn't want the ride to end, knowing that despite his hopes he'd never be that close to Rika again, at least not without her severely minding. But just the same, he knew she could *never* like him, his suspicions confirmed after the situation with the games that day… So his love was a lost hope, which he would have to enjoy for the moment and move on from soon enough. But…. He wanted to at least test it first…

Then, again fairly predictably, they hit the one jump on the entire hillside, [I've done that before, and in broad daylight non the less.] sending them merely a foot in the air, but that was still enough… They both were launched out of the tube and tumbled, landing side-by-side, in the snow, on their backs.

"You know what? That hurt," Henry whined.

"No shit Einstein," Rika sighed in response.

"You mind not cussing so much?"

"It was fun though…" she sat up, ignoring his comment, cracking her back, and turning to face him smiling.

"Oh, it's now-or-never…" Henry thought aloud, realizing his proximity to her once more. "Rika… look, as we were coming down the hill, I couldn't help but think…. About how much fun it is to be around you, especially at times like that… And, well… I don't want to risk our friendship, but, I truly think that I, well, love you…" he winced, closing his eyes bracing for the 'yeah right' he was expecting. But it never came. He opened his eyes carefully, and was shocked to see her staring straight ahead, a bit spaced out looking. He thought for a moment she hadn't heard him, or at least that she was pretending she hadn't. He opened his mouth to restate the comment, looking off in the same direction she was, but he was cut off.

"Henry… look at me…" she said softly. "You have no idea, how afraid I have been that some guy will say that to me, just because he thought I was 'pretty' or 'hot', or just because I'm the 'Digimon Queen'. But I know, that you wouldn't say it because of that…You're so different from all the other guys I've ever met, and I was kind of hoping that you'd say that, though I doubted it would happen anytime soon, if ever…." She looked up at him and smiled slightly, before smirking at him. "Yeah, I love you too Henry."

"That was certainly quite blunt," Henry laughed.

"Yeah, so?" she demanded, freezing when he smiled back at her and reached his hand over, brushing her cheek gently. She then relaxed, closed her eyes, and smiled, letting her mind wander.

"You're always so serious, but you look even more beautiful when you're happy… or at least, when I know you're happy because of me," he trailed off, and took a deep breath. "Ok, it seems kind of weird to ask permission to do this, but… Rika, can I kiss you?"

She froze again, not sure how to answer. "I… I suppose…" she responded shakily, not knowing what to expect. All she'd ever seen of kissing, was her mom and her boyfriends, and the cheesy soaps her mother always watched, so she only had seen the lusty open mouthed kisses, leaving her very much paralyzed as Henry leaned towards her. But much to her shock, he merely placed his lips on hers for a second, then pulled away, sighing. "That… was it…?" she asked, trying to hold on to that brief moment. She'd been too scared, something that she wasn't often, to enjoy the moment when it happened, and now she only had the slightest thought and memory of the feel of his warm lips against hers.

"Yeah, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"I just… don't think I've heard of people kissing like that before…" she admitted, blushing.

__

That's the only way I've really seen…And for me it's enough, just knowing that she cares about me. "Well, we could try that again, with both of us actually doing something this time…" Henry suggested, turning about the same shade of red as Rika now.

He turned towards her and leaned towards her again, this time reaching his arm to put on her back instead of the single contact point. Rika heard her own heart beating faster, as she was still nervous… She tried to be much more relaxed this time, however, and smiled, putting her hands on his shoulders and leaning in as well. Now that she was actually paying attention, she knew, right then and there, why the other girls constantly obsessed… She could feel his breath wash across her face before their gently parted mouths met… She leaned more into him, not wanting the moment to end now that she was in it, feeling herself unconsiously scoot closer to Henry, until she was leaning slightly into him with the rest of her as well. She let her arm slide over his shoulder and around his neck, feeling all his warmth and love running through her from just that one simple act. Somehow she hoped that he could feel the same from her… She could now almost understand what, fake as it was, the Soap Opera type kiss was trying to accomplish as she had to resist her own temptation to open her mouth invitingly for the use of her new boyfriend… And finally, she had to give in, sighing against his still closed mouth…

Henry, on the other hand, had only seen the quick and sweet goodbye morning kisses, that typical parents, including normal television ones and his own practiced… So when he felt the warmth of Rika's mouth before his own, he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do… Part of him wanted to demand what she was doing, but the rest instinctively wanted to seek warmth within the cold of the snow around them, and so he placed his other arm around the ever-closer girl to draw her even nearer, feeling her heat on the rest of him… And he then gently opened his lips, licking them nervously before fully realizing the meaning and consequences of his actions… He felt and heard Rika moan gently as his tongue tapped hers for the first time, both actions unexpected to either of them… and they both sighed, now lost into the sea of passion they had just found. It was almost a different reality…

Rika sighed and pulled away, nuzzling her forehead into Henry's shoulder as she curled up against him. _This is so… unlike her, still…_ Henry smiled, kissing the top of her head gently. _It might just be another one of my dreams, but… Would I be able to think it was if it was? _He sighed, feeling her warmth against him. _It can't be though… I guess the holidays just change all of us, and for the better, as does the rest of life…_

**********

"Henry?" Rika asked, leaning against him softly as she heard his watch beep 11 o clock.

"Yeah?"

"Weren't we going to build a snowman?"

"Sure, why not…"

  
[A/N]

*grins as innocently as possible* *wonders why she ever wondered where her 'daughter' got her love of grinning innocently.* Ok, Don't give me that look, if you read anything I've written I've never done anything like that before… Oh, and this is obviously not the last chapter after all, I just originally hadn't expected to use up that much space (16 pages! Aaaahhh), so next one will be out soon! Review onegai, ja ne to heiwa, ai Lyra-chan!


	5. 5

Because by now Kaitlyn and especially Tommy are begging for it, I've written… *dum-dum-dum* the next chapter! But guys, if you two compare me and DR to them again, I *will* let Meilin out. I'm not kidding either… Oh, and last part, people! I'll be back soon ^_~

Henry and Rika stopped to examine their nearly finished creation… But there was something missing on their snowman…

"It just plain looks jacked up, that's all…" Rika sighed.

"No, there's something missing…" Henry countered, his arm unconsciously draped over Rika's shoulder. 

"Don't Snowmen always have hats or scarves or something?" she complained, leaning against him and harumphing at what she thought to be a complete failure.

"Or a bandana?" Henry suggested. Rika looked back at him questioningly, but he merely fingered the one that was tied around her neck as it always was. She shook her head at her own ignorance and turned with her back to him once more.

"You want it… you have to come get it," she said with a smirk, before dashing off and standing just on the other side of the snowman.

"Ah, not this again, I'm still tired! Rika!" he laughed, running over and beginning the quite possibly never-ending game of chase. After a few minutes of no progress, Henry dropped to his knees to avoid her sight. She glanced around, thinking he may have gone off into the trees nearby, then was shocked as her feet were pulled from beneath her, sending her tumbling to the ground, disgruntled at her defeat. She sat up and leaned against the snowman, glaring poutingly at Henry who still had ahold of her ankle and was grinning innocently. "Caught you…"

"That you did. Now let's see you convince me into giving you the bandana…" she replied smugly, crossing her arms stubbornly and sitting up as straight as possible to look threatening.

"That can be arranged," he let go of her ankle, setting his arms firmly on the snow wall behind her back as he leaned his lips onto hers. She giggled lightly as his bangs fell into both their faces, but he simply shook them away and smiled, returning to kissing her. She slowly leaned to the side, eventually setting them both on their sides in the snow as Henry reached behind her neck to untie the prize article. But for now he merely tossed it to the side, to distracted to care about the completion of the snowman at the moment. He let his face and thus lips travel slowly, nearly magnetized, down to her neck before gently setting them there repeatedly. Rika sighed heavily, setting the side of her head into the snow as she let Henry work his magic over her. She had honestly never thought a guy would have this effect on her, yet here she was, lying in the snow, wrapped in Henry's arms and moaning in pleasure as he kissed her. Pure heaven… So relaxing…

In the skies above, the previous clouds and snow were quickly dissapating, leaving the light of the nearly-full moon to shine down softly on the park and the couple, causing the whole landscape to sparkle and shine it's pale white.

Henry sighed and stopped his advance, reveling yet again in just how much they had both changed and come together in that one evening. That morning he had only envisioned even the slightest chance of kissing Rika under the mistletoe… Now they were utterly making out, rolling in the snow at mere minutes to midnight, the majesty of the snowy landscape, untouched except by their own footprints, around them. More than he even knew let alone hoped to dream for… and apparently the same for Rika…

She sighed and leaned her head into his shoulder, her warm breath turning to steam and tickling his neck slightly through the cold. He laughed gently, smiling and sitting up, pulling her into his lap in the process… He was almost worried she'd fall asleep, but knew different as he felt her return his earlier favor against his own neck. He sighed and stared into the cool evening sky, wrapping Rika tighter to shield the slightly shivering girl from the temperature. That was his one and only clue that this was the actual Rika, and not some version of her that had randomly appeared… despite her passionate expressions to him, she was still to proud to admit she was cold, or anything else that was a form of weakness.

She could hear his heart beating, even through his shirt and coat, and feel her own still pounding nervously despite the hour and a half it had been since he'd first asked to kiss her… Those two things were the only ones remaining assuring her that they were both still alive and not in heaven, as the light feeling and white surroundings suggested. She shivered slightly from the cold, and heard a zipping noise as Henry unzipped his coat and pulled her into it with himself, his warmth encircling her more than before. She knew, very well, that her current actions were the opposite of those most would expect of her, but… Something about Henry made her feel more comfortable to let the standardly hidden half of her some out. She leaned up and placed her mouth to his again, allowing her tongue a bit of freedom for a moment before she curled up against him once more. She finally had felt her heartbeat go back to normal… somewhere above her, she could hear Henry's soft breathing as he kissed the top of her head gently and rubbed her back slowly, his other arm keeping the coat in place over them both.

A distant seeming beep let them both know it was now midnight. "Henry?" Rika whispered, sitting back up and looking him in the eye for a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas…"

__

This is a very special gift  
That you can never see  
The reason it's so special,  
It's just for you from me.

Whenever you are happy,  
Or even feeling blue  
You only have to hold this gift  
And know I think of you.

You never can unwrap it  
Please leave the ribbon tied,  
Just hold this box close to your heart  
It's filled with love inside.

~Unknown

Love is easily the world's most powerful gift; give it to someone you know this Holiday season.  
^_^


End file.
